TPWW's boss thought it was "best for TPWW business" for the dirtsheet news to be its own thread from now on instead of being part of the 100k Wrestling mega-thread.

If anyone finds anything interesting whether as being current sheet news, sheet stuff from the past, or even "WWE Did You Know" like facts, feel free to post them in here.

Now that's out of the way ...

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Becky Lynch gif:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

According to multiple sources close to the situation, Goldberg does not have a WWE deal right now. But everyone notes the history, that when the video game people reached deals with Brock Lesnar, Ultimate Warrior and Sting in recent years, all three ended up with the person in question later making a deal with WWE. The Goldberg deal took several years to put together, with the holdup on Vince McMahon’s side. McMahon and Goldberg did not leave on good terms in 2004 when Goldberg’s one-year contract with the promotion for $1 million and limited dates expired.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Cody Rhodes has announced he will be working with Evolve on their 8/19 iPPV in Joppa, MD. Rhodes' non-compete with WWE ends that day. Interestingly, Evolve has been also working with WWE in recent months in building up competitors for the global cruiserweight classic tournament.

WWE announced this morning that Andrade Cien Almas (the former La Sombra and Manny Andrade) will face the "Perfect 10" Tye Dillinger at this Wednesday's TakeOver event. After working NXT house shows for months, this likely means Almas will also debut to a national audience at the next television tapings. They are hoping he transitions into becoming a Hispanic star.

The 5/31 edition of Impact was down slightly, doing 346,000 viewers as opposed to last week's 359,000 viewers. It was the second highest initial audience for the series on Pop.

Quote:

Chris Harrington did some great work in noting the correlation between the wrestlers with the most matches in a given year, and significant injuries the next year. It makes sense because one key WWE guy, a few months back, was saying that they rely so much on Seth Rollins as far as the schedule and ring time is concerned, and he figured that the guy’s body was going to break down. Very shortly after, he suffered the ACL tear.

In 2014, Cesaro worked the most matches and the next year he suffered a torn rotator cuff that needed surgery. In his case, it’s not just that he works hard in the ring, but also lifts very heavy. Rollins was second. Jey Uso was sixth and needed shoulder surgery the next year. Goldust was seventh and also needed shoulder surgery the next year ...

In 2013, the guy who worked the most matches was Daniel Bryan, and he had the neck injury which put him out for much of 2014, before the concussion injury this year. Reigns, who was sixth, had the hernia, as did Ryback, who was seventh.

In 2012, the guy who worked the most matches was Sheamus, who ended up needing surgery for a torn labrum (shoulder) the next year. Kingston was fourth and had a shoulder injury.

These results may be a good indication, similar to the number of pitches that pitchers are throwing (which has changed in modern times), to monitor the amount of matches people work during a year. With Reigns and Ambrose both working so many dates in 2015 because of their value to the company, history would put them in the high-risk category for a major injury sometime this year, and they are two of the most valuable performers on the roster right now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

The most likely reason that the move was made, was because the USA Network was not happy with the ratings of Smackdown. The hope was that Smackdown on USA would do close to the numbers of Raw, particularly when it opened strong at around 2.7 million viewers ... What shocked everyone is that ratings had fallen below what they were a year ago, even with the move to a much stronger station. While ratings weren’t down from last year as much as Raw, the expectation was that a Thursday night prime time show on USA would do better.

Key to this is that, even though WWE will be adding expenses by going live, USA is not paying more for the increase in costs. It’s the first sign, while hidden from the public, that USA is concerned that the approximately $127 million they pay WWE this year for Raw and Smackdown is not delivering at the level they would like ...

Recent sheet reports about USA Network starting to view the current tv contract as a possible bad investment on their end.
A recent rumor floating around the net teases at USA Network considering adding an extra hour to Smackdown at some point during the new Brand Split era.

Quote:

It was reform school or military school. I went to Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Military school is expensive. My mom was still my guardian and she couldn’t afford it. So my dad was notified and he paid. [Playboy, 2001]

My dad was, in his words, able to “spring” for [Fishburne]. At 14, I had no reputation, so it was a new beginning, a great chance to start over and create a new reputation. [Cigar Aficionado, 1999]

Maybe I didn’t completely reinvent myself. I was the first cadet in the history of the school to be court-martialed. [Headliners & Legends With Matt Lauer, 2001]

I was lucky and a little crafty — I wasn’t caught for some stuff that would have meant immediate dismissal, like stealing the commandant’s car. Colonel Zinneker had an old, green, beat-up Buick, and he always left the keys in it. He also had a dog he was nuts about. I love animals, but one day I couldn’t resist giving that dog a laxative. I put the laxative in some hamburger and the dog did his business all over the commandant’s apartment, which thrilled me greatly.

Random Vince story from back in the day regarding his early life from a variety of sources.

Quote:

“It does get very frustrating. Communication gets very muddy, and I think a lot of guys feel a little trapped,” he said about working as an on-air talent in WWE. “Almost like they can’t defend themselves within the constructs of the company.

Maddox also indicated that former World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton is known to “threaten” other wrestlers backstage. “Randy would get angry at something in a match,” he explained, “and I remember a few instances when I was a referee, so I was in the Gorilla Position a lot of the time.

“A few times he would say things or threaten other guys, like right there in Gorilla, and I would be standing there with my eyes wide open, not believing that he is saying this in front of all the producers and in the same room with Vince. I was kind of amazed by that.”

According to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, John Cena has signed a “multi-million dollar” deal to become the new spokesperson for Hefty. You know, the garbage bag company.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

As noted before, there has been movement for an alliance with ROH, New Japan and CMLL. New Japan already has strong relations with CMLL. ROH and CMLL have been talking and while it’s not a done deal, they are working on a major CMLL star of the 7/16 show in Philadelphia. Colt Cabana will also have a rematch with Jay Lethal (or whoever the champion is at that point) on that show.

Some other sheet news includes:

According to a recent MLW podcast episode, Cody Rhodes is currently in talks to wrestle for a Japanese promotion with NJPW rumored as the likely candidate.

According to recent Observer speculation, the WWE might debut the brand new World belt for Smackdown in a similar way it was done for RAW in the sense of just handing it to someone.

Observer's Dave Meltzer revealed WWE's experiment in having Reigns carry house shows while Cena was out injured ended up resulting in around a 10% drop in overall revenues.

A recent graph by Sports Buisness Daily revealed the demographic breakdown between the WWE and other sports which pretty much confirmed the WWE's fanbase being less wealthy and educated compared to UFC and boxing. http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/J...7C42B14C9.ashx

AJ Lee revealed she recently finished working on her wrestling autobiography and is currently planned to be released by Spring 2017.

According to Taz, the WWE recently tried to negotiate with CBS to have his podcast show be shown on the WWE Network. Talks failed after both CBS and Taz refused to allow the WWE to edit or determine what could be on it. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102...-network-.html

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, some notable events in wrestling history today includes AJ Styles 39th birthday, 2nd anniversary of the Shield's breakup, and the 18th anniversary of the Junk Yard Dog's passing.

Originally Posted by Observer
Cody Rhodes has announced he will be working with Evolve on their 8/19 iPPV in Joppa, MD. Rhodes' non-compete with WWE ends that day. Interestingly, Evolve has been also working with WWE in recent months in building up competitors for the global cruiserweight classic tournament.

Could check off one of those TNA talents considering EVOLVE has been working with them as well. Trevor Lee has worked some EVOLVE shows I'm not sure about Micheal Bennett though.

Big Cass has been turning a lot of heads within WWE because of his look and in ring work.

While Enzo Amore was out of action with a concussion last month, many people were looking at Cass as not just a tag team player but a future singles star. Cass has been booked the way he has as a way to protect him in case they want to pull the trigger on a singles run. It will be interesting to see what happens with Enzo and Cass in the WWE Draft.

On a related note, Enzo returned from his concussion a few weeks earlier than some expected.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

The 6/2 episode of Smackdown did 2,169,000 viewers, up from last week's 2,112,000 viewers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

New Japan announced earlier Friday that Hiroshi Tanahashi would not be able to return for the Dominion PPV show for his scheduled ladder match with Intercontinental Champion Kenny Omega.

The 6/19 match at Osaka Jo Hall -- the first ladder match ever in New Japan and scheduled for the IC title, was the No. 2 match on what is one of the company's three biggest shows of the year. Omega will now defend his title in a ladder match against Michael Elgin, a rematch of Omega's last title defense.

With a severe shoulder injury, Tanahashi is physically in considerably worse condition than they are letting on ... There is no word on when he will return.

The realization that Tanahashi probably couldn't do the show was only known for perhaps the last 48 hours or so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Scott Garland (Scotty 2 Hotty) was helping train the wrestlers this week at the Performance Center.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

Lana and Rusev are set to get married on 9/2. Given her inclusion in the new cast of "Total Divas", don't be surprised to see the wedding filmed for the E! reality series.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

The next hearing in the criminal case against Jimmy Snuka has been set for 12/2 at 10:30 AM in Allentown, PA.

At that hearing, Judge Kelly L. Banach will re-visit her determination that the WWE Hall of Famer is not mentally competent to stand trial in the charges brought against him in the 1983 death of his then-girlfriend Nancy Argentino.

After four separate hearings on the matter, Banach ruled that Snuka was not competent to stand trial against charged of involuntary manslaughter and third-degree murder.

According to sources close to the Observer, Snuka basically is faking his dementia since people close to him were saying he was acting normal or showing no signs of the illness until he started to actually go to court.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

As we reported in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, TNA and Bobby Lashley are in the midst of finalizing a new deal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

While an official announcement will likely go out next week, PWInsider.con has confirmed that former WWE World champion Rey Mysterio is going back to High School, main eventing a Viva La Lucha event in San Diego, CA on 8/13 at Montgomery High School, his alma matter, an event that will fundraise for the school.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Hall of Famer Adam "Edge" Copeland has pushed the idea of portraying Cable in "Deadpool 2." He would actually be pretty awesome in that role.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Konnan’s latest charge against AAA on his Spanish language podcast is that referee Copetes Salazar, who also books the AAA talent on independent shows, used his booking power over the women in the promotions. He claimed that Lady Maravilla said that Salazar demanded sex to get her more bookings. The claim is that Maravilla told AAA owner Marisela Pena, who said she would investigate. The claim is that she then asked Salazar, who denied it, and she was satisfied. Konnan claimed there were other circumstances and mentioned names of girlfriends of wrestlers and that Christina Von Eerie left the promotion for that reason. The Mexican wrestling media has been writing about Konnan’s claims although the mainstream media has yet to cover the story. He also claimed that Fabi Apache was rough with the other women, and also claimed the reason Jennifer Blake was in Mexico for so long was because Dorian Roldan liked her. In Mexico, unlike in the U.S., wrestlers still in public almost never admit to wrestling being entertainment and not sport, and he’s been on his shows in Spanish being very open about it.

The Konnan-AAA feud has been on-going for months and been pretty bad for AAA since a lot of wrestlers have sided with Konnan. Even has been affecting Lucha Underground which is partially owned by AAA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Roderick Strong and Moose’s deals are up in a few weeks but I don’t believe that, officially, they are allowed to negotiate with other companies yet. Of course this is pro wrestling and you know how that goes. WWE had interest in Moose last year and logic would tell you it shouldn’t be different, considering he’s improved a lot, his name is bigger, and WWE needs to be adding talent right now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

On Raw they no longer had the graphic listing that there would be a seventh guy in Money in the Bank. On the as of yet unaired episode of Smackdown, the graphic also only listed six people. We were told that as of right now, it’s a six person match, but that it could change. They didn’t want to say anything one way or the other to lock themselves into a corner.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding the cruiserweight classic, there is a Mexican wrestler whose name we weren’t given, that has been told he’s in, was told to come up with a new name and get new ring gear, as I guess WWE doesn’t want people to know who he was. The only thing we’re told is he’s smaller than most people WWE would use, and that he’s pretty good and speaks very little English, but has been working a lot in the U.S. of late. Both Garza Jr & Ultimo Ninja of the famous Garza wrestling family were given tryouts but neither has heard a thing from WWE since. At first they had slotted for something like five slots of the 32 for Mexicans, but that was months ago and that was just the first idea.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Miami is pushing for WrestleMania in 2018, 2019 or 2020. With WrestleMania in Orlando in 2017, coming back to Florida in 2018 or 2019 sounds early. A negative is that Sun Life Stadium, which would hold the show, is undergoing a renovation project which has cut back 10,000 seats. The 2012 WrestleMania drew 66,400 fans, with 63,000 paid, which was a sellout. It was announced at 78,363, and cutting back to a legit capacity of around 56,000 is small for a Mania show right now, especially after this past year and with all the activities that surround Mania and bring tourists into town. The advantage of Miami is that it’s Johnson’s home city, and if he was going to wrestle one more serious match, or do a retirement from the ring, that would probably be the place he’d choose to do it, so that could get them the date earlier than normal.

During a recent Talk Is Jericho podcast episode with Seth Rollins as his guest, Rollins revealed the official reason the Curb Stomp was removed was due to Vince being worried about kids imitating the move. Rollins fought to keep the move and later for a different move besides the Pedigree to be his finisher. Also revealed he came up with the idea for the RKO counter spot during his Mania match against Orton. http://podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program...93&pid=1654477

According to fan reports, Elias Samson is rumored to have been injured during tonight's NXT house show.

Based on a recent interview Dixie Carter had, the next inductee for TNA's Hall of Fame will be revealed during this month and teased to be Jeff Hardy.

The 3rd hour ended up being among one of the lowest ever and biggest drops for non-football/holiday shows since RAW moved to 3 hours. In terms of yearly comparisons, same week last year had around 650k more viewers overall.

Quote:

Triple H said that Nakamura will be a key player in the company. He added that he's excited for the debut of Andrade Almas and that he will be "big player."

Triple H said "The End" title for the event has a lot of meanings, which we'll see tomorrow. He said that you can expect it to be the end of the Finn Balor - Samoe Joe series ...

The Cruiserweight Classic starts up at the end of the month. Triple H thinks it will be the premier cruiserweight tournament, and he thinks it will be an unbelievable ten weeks. He says that it will be something unlike you've seen from WWE or NXT.

He thinks the NXT roster will look a lot different after the brand split, but he doesn't know for sure. He thinks that one of the strengths of NXT is that their talent rises to the occasion whenever talent leaves for the main roster ...

About the brand split, Triple H noted that they've always had two tours and he's not sure how much everything will change ...

On Bobby Roode and Eric Young, Triple H is working on contracts for both men and said to stay tuned. He said they're both talented, and he looks forward to working with both of them ...

When asked for an update on Hideo Itami, Triple H said that he can't go too much into his medical information, but everyone heals differently, and Itami had some issues with mobility and scar tissue, and wants him to take his time and return at 100%. Nothing has changed regarding his thoughts on Hideo as a performer, and he looks forward to him returning.

Triple H was asked about doing a women's tournament, similar to the Cruiserweight Classic. Triple H said he had been throwing out ideas about it, and said that he would like to do it if the timing is right. He said it's on the table, but there are a lot of things on the table. He said that it's just an idea that spread quickly on the internet, and when they know what they'll want to do, they'll put out a statement or contact talents.

Highlights from a recent Q&A session Triple H held today as part of the lead up to tomorrow's event.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

As part of the business relationship with UFC and WWE, the WWE is interested in bringing in Paige VanZant to SummerSlam.

PW Insider and Fox Sports have both reported the news.

Mike Roberts, the manager of VanZant, confirmed to Fox Sports earlier today that WWE has reached out to inquire about VanZant to appear "in some capacity" on the 8/21 SummerSlam show. A WWE source confirmed the news to us that the company was looking for a role for her at the show.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CageSideSeats.com

Yesterday's rumor that Tommy End was headed to WWE was reported on by multiple outlets, who say - pending physicals - the Dutch star should be in NXT by September.

Ring of Honor (ROH)'s Moose and Roderick Strong are also reportedly on WWE's radar. Both of their ROH contracts are believed up shortly.

Main source on the Tommy End news was from the Observer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CageSideSeats.com

Vince McMahon soured on the Shining Stars gimmick when Epico & Primo's return didn't get much of a reaction and there are currently no plans for the duo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE.com posted an article on former German national soccer team goalkeeper Tim Wiese accepting a deal to start training at the Performance Center ... Wiese, who bulked up big the past few years as he picked up bodybuilding is a charismatic and impressive looking guy at around 6'4" and about 285 lbs. His contract with his former soccer club of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim is set to expire on 6/30, even though he was cut from the team long before that, in January of 2014. Wiese had publically talked about getting into wrestling, as the media had made comparisons of his physique to those of wrestlers.

Bray Wyatt has been medically cleared and is expected to debut imminently, as in as soon as tonight, but if not, very shortly. If he is to debut, he's likely to be slotted into Money in the Bank in some form. Wyatt was a babyface and the Wyatt family were being turned to face the League of Nations when he got hurt. Now there are no more League of Nations and WWE is still at the top, weaker on the heel side.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Just because of all the questions regarding NXT Takeover and UFC 202 going head-to-head, right now the Barclays Center is still listing the Takeover show on 8/20. As noted last week, the WWE web site had removed the show from the schedule but as they told me, it was put back on and listed for a 7:30 p.m. start time. If they start the network show at 8 p.m., the show would end very shortly into the start of the PPV which starts at 10 p.m.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Brandi Runnels (Eden Stiles) at this point is going to be working outside wrestling while Cody will be working indies. The one announced show with Cody vs. Mike Bennett with Brandi Rhodes, as she's being called, is more to do a story of counteracting Maria Kanellis. But it's not going to be a regular thing at this point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting that Adam Rose will use his party boy gimmick on the Indies using the name Aldo Rose and will be taking indie bookings. Right now he can't appear on TV or iPPV until the late summer. He said, "Ain't no more PG in this party."

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

TheWrap.com is reporting that WWE star Luke Harper, currently out of action following ACL surgery, has been cast for a role in the horror film "Mohawk", which is currently shooting in Upstate New York.

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley got a heck of a birthday gift as he announced that he's lost 68 lbs. with the help of DDP Yoga. He also noted he is the lightest he has been since 1990, which is around the time of his first run with WCW. Congratulations to Mick, who has always been one of the classiest people around pro wrestling:

HELLO 270! With the help of @DDPYoga I have lost 68 pounds in 6 months - and am at my lightest since 1990. #BANG pic.twitter.com/ChGEaZsK8L
— Mick Foley (@RealMickFoley) June 6, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

Luke Gallows is quickly becoming one of the most popular people in the WWE locker room. In an environment where there's often a feeling of walking on eggshells and where everyone is worried about their jobs, Gallows lightens the mood a little bit and brings a levity to the locker room.

It's not that Gallows is goofing off or not taking his job serious, it was described as a situation where his demeanor and the way he speaks lightens the mood and helps to make being backstage a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

Supposedly this week's episode of RAW had around 35+ minutes worth of actual wrestling with promos taking up about half the show assuming a chart recently posted online is correct. Chart itself is missing the Sami-Del Rio match though but might not be enough to drastically change the ratios. http://i.imgur.com/zuAQPrkh.jpg

According to the Observer, if Lesnar gets hurt at UFC 200, it could potentially cause some issues in regards to New York's Athletics Commission since there is no set precedent where a medical suspension in one sport (MMA) auto-carries over to another sport (wrestling).

Dean Ambrose was revealed during last night's RAW show to be this week's guest for ESPN's wrestling segment.

Ring of Honor star Moose has been spotted in the Orlando area and even popped up on social media for WWE star Apollo Crews today, sparking a lot of speculation given that tonight is WWE NXT Takeover. We are told that Moose is still under contract to ROH and is in town visiting friends.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

For those curious as to how USADA and UFC will be handling Brock Lesnar and PED testing, we've got a lot more on the story here. Basically, since the USADA drug testing standards were not in place when Brock Lesnar announced his retirement from UFC in 2011, he will not have to fulfill the 4 months of pre fight testing. He is being treated like a newly contracted fighter, who just happens to have a fight in a month. So he has only been eligibile for testing since last Friday. However, since he has been under contract to WWE in the last 5 years, he has theoretically been tested and clean since his 2011 retirement.

Update to Lesnar's UFC-WWE situation in relations to his upcoming MMA fight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

The WWE's July tour of Japan is coming into shape with the cards officially released on their Japan microsite including Nakamura's first official scheduled WWE action.

Nakamura will face both Bray Wyatt and Kevin Owens on the tour, while WWE Champion Roman Reigns will be involved in two fatal-four way matches for the title. Also, it looks as if the John Cena/AJ Styles feud will last a few months as they are also scheduled for both nights.

The 6/7 edition of Impact was down this week, doing 326,000 viewers. That is down from last week's 346,000 viewers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

NWA President Bruce Tharpe was also at the WWE Performance Center yesterday and tweeted out a photo of himself meeting with Triple H. We are told Tharpe was there to try and broker a deal with WWE in respect to the Paul Boesch Houston wrestling library. Tharpe has the rights to the library and utilizes it on the NWA's streaming service.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

Mattel announced they were releasing an exclusive Shockmaster action figure at the San Diego Comic Con. The packaging even features Shockmaster having fallen down to play off of his infamous WCW debut going wrong. You can check that out at this link.

NJPW have announced that Jay White will be heading to ROH on excursion after Dominion.

Quote:

The team attacking America Alpha are known as the Authors of Pain, consisting of Sunny Dhinsa and Gzim Selmani (Gzim is pronounced with a silent G).

Some news regarding NXT's new tag team. Prior to getting signed by the WWE, Dhinsa was an Olympic style wrestler while Selmani was a MMA fighter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

Dark match: Ember Moon def. Peyton Royce. Ember Moon (I think that's the name, but it wasn't spelled out to see) is the former Athena/Adrienne Reese. She has new music, but didn't have a tron yet.

Report from tonight's pre-show stuff for NXT Takeover: The End. If past instances are any indication with indy stars getting official WWE names, likely will get her official tv debut by the next NXT special event.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CageSideSeats.com

When asked about Hideo Itami, he mentioned Itami's Tweet about returning soon, and said he wants him 100%. He's still excited about him as a performer. His recovery took longer than some others (he called John Cena a "mutant" here) due to scar tissue and some mobilitiy issues, and Haitch is willing to wait until he's ready for action.

Another highlight from yesterday's NXT Q&A session Triple H did.

Quote:

In his first interview since getting released by WWE on May 23, Adam Rose commented on his departure and the circumstances that surrounded it.

Rose told Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet via email that both parties believed a parting of ways was the best option for a multitude of reasons:

"It was a mutual thing. Honestly, I had just hit too many problems back to back. My mistakes or not, guilty or not? It was starting to look really bad. It was just the best choice for everyone involved and the WWE and I knew that.

Adam Rose never quite took off in the WWE! Is it the company's fault, or my fault? Probably a bit of both. The character Adam Rose that debuted on NXT was not the same character that the WWE Universe got. Honestly, I am happy to leave. It was time. I wanted to be home more. My boys and my wife needed me. My poor wife had been carrying the load the whole time while I was off living my dream. It was not right or fair to her or my boys."

The 36-year-old veteran was later arrested on domestic violence and witness tampering charges in May, which led to an indefinite suspension from WWE before his eventual release ...

"As for my arrest, well that was a complete nightmare! It's all being cleared up now, but the damage to our lives is permanent. My wife was like 'what the hell is going on' when it happened. I don't exactly even know why it happened ... even now. I think law enforcement, who I have the utmost respect for, may have acted too quickly.

They never knew the full story and made some assumptions that will now scar my family's history forever. My wife is my world and my rock. I don't deserve her in anyway. As a man, I am willing to say and admit she is the toughest and strongest person I know. I am proud of her! Proud to be her husband! Proud to have her raise my boys"

Even though HHH made a comment as though he thought it would happen, but didn’t know, among those involved with NXT we’re told “NXT is being raided for the draft big time” and that a lot more will be known shortly. It only makes sense given they need to add to the talent depth to have two strong rosters. The company has been aggressively pursuing talent to start in NXT in September. They’ve also been telling people who they’ve signed not to let anyone know. There have been reports regarding Tommy End being one of those people. He’s scheduled to undergo medical testing and will be offered a contract if he passes.

Quote:

Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Rich Swann recently suffered a shoulder injury that could keep him out of the Cruiserweight Classic. He hasn’t wrestled at a live event since late March because he wants to let the shoulder heal before the tournament starts. His last match was against Elias Samson on March 19. He was announced for the CWC two weeks later. A source claims that Swann is “determined” to be in the tournament and is trying to make it happen.

Wade Barrett's Papa Shango curse strikes again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

The talk continues involving both Roderick Strong and Moose. Moose wrote, “I will always have a special spot in my heart for ROH,” which read to me like he’s leaving. WWE or TNA would be the obvious choices and all kinds of things that happened at the last minute would indicate WWE as the favorites. In theory, there was interest from both sides in him although even today based on the contract, which is still in existence, any direct negotiations would be considered tampering. As noted, that kind of stuff happens all the time in wrestling no matter the legalese. TNA is offering higher numbers for most at his level, if they want them, than WWE.

WWE is obviously the goal of most wrestlers, and internally in WWE people were talking about him debuting there as part of the September incoming class. Moose himself said that he can’t say anything until his situation is final. Moose was in Orlando for Takeover backstage and tweeted a photo going to the show with Apollo Crews. I do know that even as of last week, ROH thought they had a good chance of keeping him and his winning a multiple person match over the weekend would indicate that even as of the weekend they believed that. He’s still scheduled for the 6/24 PPV even after a Tweet where people look at it and are going to naturally speculate, and it’s not a secret his contract is up in a few weeks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

It appears future WWE pay-per-view events will be going past 11pm and not just WrestleMania. WWE has told Sky Italia to start reserving extra time for pay-per-view events as the duration of those shows will vary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

Ring of Honor announced the following:

You’ve been watching exclusive Women of Honor matches on the ROH YouTube channel, but now you’ll have the chance to see them LIVE! On July 8th, Baltimore hosts a special WOMEN OF HONOR event! All of your favorite Women of Honor will be in action, in addition to special guests and even some debuting athletes ...

This Women of Honor event is FREE ADMISSION with the purchase of a ticket for ROH‘s AFTERSHOCK event..

NXT Takeover Brooklyn tickets for 8/20 at the Barclays Center are available on pre-sale right now using the code WWENXT. The pre-sale ends tomorrow at 10 p.m. and the regular sale goes into effect at Noon on Saturday. The names listed are Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, Bayley, American Alpha and The Revival.

Figured that might be useful for anyone interested in going.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Six-year-old Max has been diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma for the second time. He's a huge WWE fan and his family is not looking for any monetary donations but if anyone has anything related to WWE that thet would like to donate that he can play with while being treated there will be an event on 6/19 in Dublin, Ireland at the Woolshed Pub collecting donations.

A sad part of the Jimmy Snuka story is that the sisters of Nancy Argentino, Louise and Lorraine, were never told about the change in the hearing date (the date was changed more than a week earlier), so they could not be in the court room when Snuka was declared not mentally competent to stand trial. Not that it would have been something they’d have had a good reaction to, if they had seen it live. Essentially the case has been shelved until 12/2 when there will be another hearing to see if Snuka’s mental capacity has improved enough for him to stand trial; it won’t.

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Originally Posted by Observer

In an interesting story, Pro Wrestling Torch reported that the ownership of the name TNA was taken over by Aroluxe Media LLC on 5/3. They registered the ownership of the name TNA from May 3, 2016 to 2021. This company still owns the names TNA Wrestling and TNA Entertainment, LLC., as well as names associated with Impact Wrestling. They’ve been pushing the name Impact Wrestling over TNA to a degree for years.

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Originally Posted by Observer

TNA will be doing an almost live Impact on 6/14 as well as more tapings after that show and 6/15. When the tapings that take place next week run out, there are plans to do another semi-live taping in July and follow with several more weeks after the fact. The dates are not yet announced, but however many weeks are taped this coming week, that would indicate 7/2, 7/9 or 7/16 as the start of the next tapings, with the middle date most likely. At least some talent has been told ahead of time about a live July taping.

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Originally Posted by Observer

Ric Flair and Conrad Thompson will be going back to doing podcasts on right around 6/30 but on a new station, leaving the CBS family.

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Orton was in Los Angeles this week taping an episode of the show “Shooters,” on the USA Network. Omar Epps and Ryan Phillippe are the stars and Mark Walhberg is the director. The series debuts on 7/19 at 10 p.m., or right after Smackdown on the USA Network, so it makes sense to have a WWE star on the show in an early episode. The Orton situation will be interesting, because Orton was one of the top faces on the roster, but is better as a heel. Right now, when it comes to the touring guys, the two brand leaders are clearly, at least until things change, Reigns and Cena. It makes no sense if the decision is made to go away from Reigns to have Orton in the spot. One also wonders just how full a schedule Cena is going to do, because of all the outside offers he’s getting and all the injuries. Ambrose has been put in the top position on the other tour with Cena out, but clearly has not been booked strong enough to be a brand leader with his losses to HHH and the ridiculous program in hindsight with Lesnar. You also have Wyatt who can turn in a heartbeat because people want to cheer him. There’s no rush to flip Wyatt but it is fresh, and if he does, then Orton should be on the heel side.

Basically Orton might suffer a bit with the Brand Split since the WWE already has the top stars set for each show while Ambrose has been filling in for Cena as the non-Reigns top face star for house shows not involving Cena himself.

Apparently Seth Rollins and Bret Hart have been feuding on social media and started after Bret thought Rollins was a bit unsafe in the ring with others. Rollins got upset and lashed out at Bret while Bret recently responded saying he was only criticizing as a way to help Rollins change part of his wrestling habits. http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/7164...enas-nose-more

According to the Observer, WWE is currently on track to not have a sell out crowd for the upcoming MitB ppv. House shows leading up to the event are also having problems with ticket sales.

Also according to the Observer, Nakaumra will not be main eventing either of the two shows for the upcoming Japan tour even though he's been advertised the most and likely the big reason why people are interested. Already confirmed the main event for both shows will be the WWE title match.

Gawker Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today in New York court, with bankruptcy preceding a sale to Ziff Davis. Davis, who owns IGN and Ask Men has reportedly bid about $100 million for Gawker. Nick Denton, the owner, who is also expected to file for bankruptcy due to the $140 million award to Hulk Hogan, said, "We have been forced by this litigation to give up our long standing independence, but our writers remain committed to telling the true stories that underpin credibility with our millions of readers. With stronger backing and disentangled from litigation, they can perform their vital work on more platforms and in different forms."

Update to recent Hogan-Gawker lawsuit news.

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Originally Posted by Observer

Maria Kanellis was announced as being pulled from Sunday's Slammiversary show due to a broken hand. She was scheduled against Gail Kim.

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Originally Posted by PWI

The 6/9 episode of Smackdown did 1,996,000 viewers, down from last week's 2,169,000 viewers. It is by far the lowest number that the show has done since moving to The USA Network earlier this year.

Unlike with NFL and NBA playoff games, RAW barely suffers any real ratings effect whenever the NHL playoffs are giving in recent years.

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Originally Posted by PWI

Former WWE World Heavyweight champion Daniel Bryan was backstage at the WWE NXT TV last night, PWInsider.com has confirmed. Bryan was visiting with the roster and watched the majority of the show from the gorilla position backstage.

It was the first time Bryan has been in attendance at a WWE event since retiring live on Raw on 2/8 in Seattle.

Bryan had been advertised since then for appearances at several live events that would have featured a "Daniel Bryan Appreciation Night" theme as well as a signing at Wrestlemania AXXESS, but was pulled from those dates at his request just as they were about to begin. At the time, WWE's comment was that Bryan had been given "requested time off."

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Originally Posted by PWI

The Mid-Atlantic Legends Fanfest this August in Charlotte, NC announced yesterday that WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross would be returning to the gathering to perform his One Man Show and to host a "Roast" of Ole Anderson. The gathering also announced that North Carolina women's promotion Queens of Combat would have a live event over the course of the weekend as part of the convention. Announced as appearing thus far are Tony Schiavone, Magnum TA, Mickie James, Austin Idol, Arn Anderson and more

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Originally Posted by PWI

In regard to the "who are you? chant" during NXT Takeover, we've heard from a few readers in the building that night that it was actually directed at The Authors of Pain, not Paul Ellering.

Probably didn't help Kevin Owens and at least one NXT wrestler on Twitter were fueling online backlash against the crowd when it happened. Also didn't help the camera shot focusing on just Ellering made it seem the chant was just for him.

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Originally Posted by PWI

Luke Gallows was interviewed in advance of Raw returning to New Orleans this Monday at this link. On the name, The Club being used instead of Bullet Club he noted, "We were being edgy in Japan (with the name), and there’s a bit of a language barrier. The WWE is all about family friendly entertainment. My son and I watch the WWE Network at home all the time. Going with The Club was the way we needed to go to come here and be in this environment, where your kids are watching." Obviously, New Japan owning the name had a little bit to do with it too!

The situation with Matt Hardy, is that they were to talk again at TV this week about signing him to an exclusive contract. As noted before, TNA has been attempting to sign talent to contracts where TNA controlled all their bookings. The key people would be The Hardys, Bobby Lashley and Drew Galloway, none of which have signed yet. It will take sizeable money to get either Hardy to give up booking themselves on indies, and Galloway seems to be doing well, particularly in the U.K. market, in handling his own bookings. But it’s the weirdest thing because of the obvious cost cutting, such as only doing two days of Impact tapings (6/13 will be tapings for Xplosion and one not only) to save money now even though it’ll cost more in the long run for having to schedule another set of tapings in just a few weeks. Plus, they are still making aggressive offers for at least some talent whose contracts are coming due.

Some other sheet news includes:

Next Stone Cold podcast episode for the WWE Network was revealed to be taking place on June 20th with AJ Styles as his guest.

Lucha Underground is currently targeting a late 2016 date for the debut of Season 3 with around 40 episodes planned to be shown and the company itself to start touring this summer. Announcement was made by the show's executive producer during a recent episode of NBC Sports Radio wrestling podcast show. https://audioboom.com/boos/4678142-l...ic-van-wagenen

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, New Day's upcoming MitB tag team title match will end up being their reign's 9th title defense which would put them one ppv behind the Dudleys Boys for 2nd most all-time (10 in a row). New Day currently are at 8 defenses which is tied with the Hardy Boys while the record is 15 in a row done by the New Age Outlaws.

Yeah, I see Gallows & Anderson leaving Money in the Bank with the titles. I'm not sure what they do with New Day after that. New brand to set up new championships? A feud with The Wyatt Family? Do they split them up?

In an interesting story, Pro Wrestling Torch reported that the ownership of the name TNA was taken over by Aroluxe Media LLC on 5/3. They registered the ownership of the name TNA from May 3, 2016 to 2021. This company still owns the names TNA Wrestling and TNA Entertainment, LLC., as well as names associated with Impact Wrestling. They’ve been pushing the name Impact Wrestling over TNA to a degree for years.

Small update to the story involves Dixie Carter staying as majority owner of TNA and the deal itself was only for ownership of the company's name. Besides ownership of the name, Aroluxe also took over all financial responsibilities for TNA going forward.

Of all the possible new investors and/or owners, they were the only one willing to accept TNA's demand of leaving Dixie in charge.

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According to PW Torch, Aroluxe Marketing now owns the “TNA” name. They took ownership of the name but not the entire company. Dixie Carter’s company still owns the names of Impact Ventures, TNA Entertainment, and TNA Wrestling. Carter also remains the majority owner of the company, despite the Aroluxe Marketing group’s ownership of the TNA name itself.

Aroluxe Marketing can now do business under the name of TNA, according to PWInsider. They, too, claim that Carter remains the owner of the company itself.

It was reported several times over the last few months that an investor was helping TNA with their television tapings by flying in talent and helping with hotel stay a bit. Apparently, the Harris brothers were behind this. The brothers and especially their employees have been overseeing production for TNA, as well. Aroluxe is also responsible for TNA’s payroll duties and will remain working with TNA on production for the Impact Wrestling tapings.

That's probably the worst deal they had on the table as well but since Dixie get to keep control they took it. Don't see why you would want the TNA name. This might turn into rebranding the company Impact Wrestling if things fall out with Aroluxe.

Smashing Pumpkins frontman and long-time professional wrestling fan and creative mind Billy Corgan has purchased a minority share of TNA Wrestling, according to a new report from PWInsider.com. Corgan, 49, has been with the company for a little over a year already, working backstage in Creative and Talent Development.

There have been rumors and speculation for months about TNA looking to sell ownership to keep Impact Wrestling afloat in the U.S., however persistence from current company President Dixie Carter on maintaining her majority share in the promotion have ultimately materialized nothing – until now. This deal will obviously see Corgan’s decision-making powers within TNA increase dramatically, while Carter retains majority owner.

It finally happened. Thanks, in part, to going head-to-head with Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the June 13th edition of WWE Raw fell below the 3 million viewer mark for the first time outside of football season.

The show did 2.96 million viewers -- the second lowest for a non-holiday episode of the show since 1997, as there was a show in November that did 2.95 million viewers. The prior seasonal record low was 3.12 million viewers, and while the rating isn't out as of this writing, it should equate to a 2.1 or 2.2 rating ...

Kim, a multi-time Knockouts champion, helped put the Knockouts promotion on the map for TNA, specifically with her feud against Awesome Kong

Spoiler tag used since its meant to be revealed during this week's Impact show.

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Originally Posted by Observer

A very controversial interview from Rene Dupree and also quotes from the former Rodney Mack regarding Chris Nowinski and his business relationship with WWE which Nowinski has said has no foundation here.

Dupree trashed Nowinski for having close financial ties to the WWE who are similar to the NFL in regards to fighting efforts against concussion-based research. Also for the lack of deceased pro wrestlers brains being among the brains donated for research. http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/20...?event=event25

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Originally Posted by Observer

Cody Rhodes and Jushin Liger are scheduled to appear for Northeast Wrestling on 8/28 in Bethany, CT.

Cody Rhodes vs. Tommaso Ciampa is scheduled for 9/18 for XWA in Providence, RI at the John Hope Center.

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Originally Posted by Observer

The Fight Network announced today a deal to get the AXS version of New Japan World Pro Wrestling with Jim Ross and Josh Barnett as announcers. The shows will air on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. starting on 7/7.

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While this hasn’t been confirmed yet, numerous websites and personalities have said that the reason the NWA President Bruce Tharpe was at NXT Takeover: The End and meeting with Triple H was over the WWE looking to acquire a new library. And the library is an important one.

Supposedly, the WWE is attempting to acquire the Houston Wrestling library. Paul Boesch’s Houston Wrestling is one of the biggest and most important libraries the WWE doesn’t already own, and with a little more classic content appearing on the service lately and major shows close to being completed with classic content likely to be focused on even more going forward, it only makes sense that the company would need more content.

Of course, they have a hundred thousand hours and then some of content not yet available, but WWE is preserving history and truly becoming the library for pro wrestling and with this, they take one step closer toward that goal. Beyond that, Mike Johnson of PWInsider had mentioned months ago that the company was looking at international libraries. And finally, Les Thatcher is in talks with WWE as the company is attempting to obtain the Heartland Wrestling Association library from 2000 and 2001 during the period the company acted as a developmental system for WWE.

As we reported in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, WWE has been reaching out to a number of former talents over the last several days, checking on their interest in coming back to work for the company once the brand split takes place this July. So, as much as there is talk of raiding the NXT brand for new talents, the company is also looking into bringing back tenured veteran talents as well.

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Originally Posted by PWI

The 8/20 WWE NXT Takeover event has been appropriately titled "Back to Brooklyn." The event will air the night before Summerslam live on the WWE Network from The Barclays Center.

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Originally Posted by PWI

WWE star Neville is expected back from his broken ankle within the next month, PWInsider.com has learned. The hope internally is he will return by the end of June, but he is expected back no later than mid-July.

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Originally Posted by PWI

Charges against former WWE star Raymond " Adam Rose" Leppan were dropped by prosecutors in Florida and the case against him is now closed, reported TMZ.com today. The decision was made after Leppan provided proof he was getting assistance for his marital issues.

While PWInsider.com has not independently confirmed the report, the belief among sources within WWE at the time the planned July split was announced was that the company would add additional Network specials/PPVs to accomodate the split roster.

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Association of Wrestlers Against Cheese People:

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Dave says TNA was in an absolute crisis situation. Dean Broadhead, the BUSINESS HEAD of TNA, wrote on facebook this week that on Thursday and Friday he logged over 80 business calls with "attorneys, accountants, vendors, bankers, employees" and said it may be time for him to retire, but not until everything is in the right place. When asked why he had to make all those calls, Dean said he had twelve hours to secure financing for TNA, so that production trucks could come ...

Dave says he thought TNA had money for this TV taping, but apparently they didn't have enough. Dave brings up again that TNA was originally going to tape not just Monday through Wednesday this week, but an extra month of Impact on Thursday and Friday, and canceled plans for those last two days to save money short term ...

Dave says this was where Billy Corgan came in, and while he doesn't know all the details, TNA had some loans to Aroluxe that needed to be paid back, and seeing as how they run production, "they control all the equipment". Dave makes it sound like these tapings wouldn't have happened without Corgan paying off Aroluxe ...

Dave says the big problem for TNA coming up, beyond finding money for the NEXT TV tapings, is that sooner or later they have to go to India to fill their once a year obligation to Sony Six. The problem is that while Sony Six will pay some of the costs, they're not going to pay all of them. Dave says a trip to India is very very expensive for TNA, but at the same time, not doing the shows puts them in danger of losing Sony Six, which is one of their key revenue streams. Dave says not only was last year's India tapings canceled, but this year's have already been delayed once.

From the Observer's forums about TNA's issues during a recent Observer Radio show. If TNA was in a dire situation now, they pretty much are screwed once the India tour happens in terms of finances.

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Originally Posted by PWI

Mattel will be releasing the first ever action figure of the legendary former NWA United States champion Magnum TA as part of it's WWE Elite Legends action figure line.

Also featured in the line will be Kamala, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior and Chris Jericho.

Magnum was slated to be featured in a previous Legends of Wrestling toy line produced by Jakks Pacific several years ago but when the initial releases did not sell well, the line was scrapped.

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Originally Posted by Observer

ROH made a big announcement today, that they will be returning to the famed Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City for their biggest PPV of the year, Final Battle. This will mark the first time ROH has run the building since 2014. The company has declined to use the Hammerstein due to increasing facility rental costs, but recently decided to head back to the building. The Hammerstein Ballroom will now be the site of all of ROH's future NYC shows.

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Originally Posted by Observer

TNA will be rebroadcasting last night's Gold Rush show tonight on Pop TV. Apparently there were some technical difficulties due to weather that prevented the show to be seen in its entirety in certain markets. That show will at 9pm eastern tonight.

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Originally Posted by PWI

The 6/14 edition of Impact, which aired at 10:50 PM was understandly down this week, bringing in 210,000 viewers. They were down from 326,000 viewers last week. The episode will air again tonight at 9 PM as the technical issues were on Pop's end.

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Originally Posted by PWI

As noted several days ago on PWInsider.com, WWE filed a trademark for the name "Legion of Doom", a moniker used by WWE Hall of Fame tag team The Road Warriors during their careers and used as their primary team name during their initial WWE run in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

With the appearance of Paul Ellering as the mouthpiece for NXT team The Authors of Pain, there was speculation the name might be used by WWE for that team. That speculation is now rendered moot as WWE abandoned the trademark application on 6/13.

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Originally Posted by PWI

During his latest episode of the Ross Report podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross announced he had signed on board to produce a new film, currently titled " 6:05 On The SuperStation! " The film will be produced in conjunction with the team responsible for the "Mid-Atlantic Memories" documentary that debuted last summer. Ross narrated that film.

The "feel-good film" will cover the 20-year period in time -- late 1960s to late 1980s -- "when folks down south were glued to their TV sets at 6:05 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays",

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Originally Posted by PWI

There was a good reason why the TNA Hall of Famer didn't leak in advance: no one knew who it was. TNA didn't tell anyone who the Hall of Famer was beyond a very small group of people. We are told that Gail Kim didn't know she was being announced as the new Hall of Famer until Dixie Carter announced it during last night's taping.

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Originally Posted by 411mania

According to pwinsider.com, WWE has applied for a number of trademarks for “Clash of Champions.” One of the trademarks is for a television show. With the news of the brand split, and rumors of more PPVs/WWE Network specials going around, this will likely cause a lot of speculation.

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She says she enjoyed her programs with Trish Stratus, Brie Bella, Lita and Jacqueline Moore. Having the privilege to get in the ring without being a wrestler is an honor to her. She says the decision to get back in the ring isn't up to her, it's up to the 'decision maker.' She says that as long as it helps get somebody over, that's the ultimate goal of her character.

Being a heel is her preference over being a babyface. Heels getting their comeuppance is her favorite part, according to her. She cited Sable and Chris Jericho as doing that.

The participants in this year’s G-1 Climax tournament will be announced at the 6/27 Korakuen Hall show

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Originally Posted by Observer

Stu Bennett, who was Wade Barrett in WWE, on Twitter when talking about Barrett said “the other guy is dead and buried.” He’s been mostly talking soccer. He has interest in getting a job as a soccer analyst

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Originally Posted by Observer

SummerSlam as a live event at the Barclays Center is listing a 6 p.m. Eastern start time. Usually they would list a 7 p.m. start time for the pre-show, so it looks like they will start the PPV at 7 p.m. and do a four-hour or longer show. As noted last week, WWE has sent notices to PPV carriers that some shows going forward may go past 11 p.m. Eastern

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Originally Posted by Observer

WWE really wanted Will Ospreay for the cruiserweight tournament. He signed a two-year contract with New Japan, so it didn’t happen. There was actually talk in recent weeks of WWE trying to still get him even with knowledge he was under contract, perhaps even trying to work through New Japan

Some other sheet news includes:

Observer's Dave Meltzer daily Q&A session on Twitter focused today on the WWE and ad rates. Apparently the WWE gets around $50 million yearly for the 3rd hour of RAW from USA Network, likely would be posting fiscal report losses if it wasn't for the extra hour, and the Network would need an extra 500k subscribers just to make up the loss if RAW ever went back to 2 hours. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...postcount=8109

Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin with topics including Vince originally being against Austin doing middle fingers, running a beer company, and the infamous walkout incident in 2002. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016...ipa-what-chant

Next NXT special was revealed to be called "NXT Takeover Brooklyn II" and like almost every other Takeover event, tickets sold out very quickly. Logo for the event was also revealed: http://i.imgur.com/nuvo3A9.jpg

As we reported in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, WWE has been reaching out to a number of former talents over the last several days, checking on their interest in coming back to work for the company once the brand split takes place this July. So, as much as there is talk of raiding the NXT brand for new talents, the company is also looking into bringing back tenured veteran talents as well.